Kate Mullany National Historic Site
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Category Archives: By Labor Topic
The Bread & Roses Strike
The 100th Anniversary of the Great Lawrence Strike of 1912, popularly referred to as the Bread & Roses Strike, begins January 2012. A number of events have been planned to commemorate this historically significant event. The Bread and Roses Centennial … Continue reading
Posted in Events, Labor History
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The Empirical Case for Streamlining the NLRB Certification Process: The Role of Date and Unfair Labor Practice Occurrence.
The Empirical Case for Streamlining the NLRB Certification Process: The Role of Date and Unfair Labor Practice Occurrence.
This study by Cornell’s Kate Bronfenbrenner and Columbia’s Dorian Warren examines a proposal Continue reading
Posted in Contemporary Labor Issues
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New Data: NLRB Process Fails to Ensure a Fair Vote
New Data: NLRB Process Fails to Ensure a Fair Vote
This new analysis of NLRB election data reveals how current NLRB procedures… Continue reading
Posted in Contemporary Labor Issues
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The Films
If You Don’t Come in on Sunday, Don’t Come in on Monday The Review (http://labor-studies.org/pdfs/If-You-Dont-Come-in-on-Sunday.pdf) Order Information Order Online Here (click here to download form) MEI Publishing Inc. 44424 Oriole Dr. #203 Fort Mill, SC 29707-5953 Phone: (718)548-4200 Fax: (718)548-4202 … Continue reading
Posted in Film
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Labor Songs
Using Songs to Teach Labor History
The American labor movement has a long and rich heritage of song. Like hymns and patriotic songs, union songs are songs with a message. Thousands have been written by union members and others over the years. These men and women, black and white, native American and foreign born, created their own literature reflecting every aspect of life in the mines, mills, factories, shops and farms where they were forced to labor… Continue reading
Posted in Featured Resources, Labor Songs, Songs
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Labor History Lesson Plans
Click here for a variety of labor history lesson plans including ‘United We Stand’ from the Library of Congress Continue reading
Posted in Documents, Featured Resources
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Wisconsin Teaching Labor History Law
Wisconsin is implementing the nation’s first state law requiring the
teaching of labor history and collective bargaining. Continue reading
Posted in Featured Resources, Labor History
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Workers Independent News
Workers Independent News (WIN) gathers news by and about working people and creates programs and feature stories for commercial, public, community and college radio stations throughout the United States:
http://www.laborradio.org/
Posted in Contemporary Labor Issues
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Labor Politics & Legislation
Click here to read about the latest legislation and politics news from AFL-CIO.
Film
Merrimack Films – producer and distributor of videos on labor relations.
Posted in Film
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Literature
Posted in Literature
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Labor History Timelines
- The AFL-CIO’s timeline is designed to allow the user to move the cursor across a history continuum that runs from 1600 to 2000. Just right click on the date to display a listing of the key labor events of that era.
- This interactive photo essay depicts 100 years of struggle by workers. Click on any one of the 10 decades to bring the timeline alive with dramatic photos.
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Posted in Events, Labor History Timelines, Labor Links
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Harry Renton Bridges
(1901-1990)
Melbourne, Australia
Fifteen years after he set foot in San Francisco 1920, Harry Bridges was at the forefront of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which was the first US union to actively fight against racism. He led the longshoreman’s San Francisco General Strike (May 9, 1934), notable for “Bloody Thursday” and being first industry-wide strike in US history… Continue reading
Posted in Personalities / Biographies
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César Estrada Chavez
(1927-1993) Yuma, Arizona
César lived amongst former migrant workers and endured the conditions and racial issues that affected them. Starting his political work with the Community Service Organization (CSO) in 1952, he founded the United Farm Worker’s (UFW) in 1962… Continue reading
Eugene Victor Debs
(1855-1926) Terre Haute, Indiana
Eugene V. Debs was born in a wooden shack in Terre Haute, Indiana on February 5, 1855. At age 16 he became a locomotive fireman, stoking fires on the early prairie railroads. His years working on the railroad affected him so deeply that when the local of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was organized in 1875 Debs played an active role… Continue reading
Thomas Reilly Donahue
(1928-) New York City, New York
Donahue grew up in an Irish Catholic family in The Bronx, New York, the son of Thomas R. and Mary E. Donahue. After completing his elementary and secondary schooling, he joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 17, serving as a seaman from 1945-1946… Continue reading
Arthur Goldberg
(Click Here) Arthur Goldberg was a labor strategist for the union movement and former Secretary of Labor
Samuel Gompers
(1850-1924)
London, England
Samuel Gompers emigrated in 1863 to New York, where he followed his father’s trade of cigar making and became a naturalized citizen in 1872. As a labour leader, Gompers gained a worldwide reputation for conservatism. In a period when the U.S. was bitterly hostile to labour organizations, he evolved the principles of “voluntarism,” which stressed that unions should exert coercion by economic actions, i.e., strikes and boycotts… Continue reading
William Green
(Click Here) Former AFL president, moved the federation toward “social reform unionism.”
Sidney Hillman
(Click Here) Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America founder. Often credited with inventing trade unionism as we know it today.
Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones)
The Workers’ Warrior
One of the most colorful figures in American labor history is Mary Harris Jones, “Mother Jones.” Frequently showing up at strikes and rallies, she was known as a real “hell raiser.” While she is most often recognized for her comment, “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living,” many of her speeches were profound and prophetic… Continue reading
John L. Lewis
(Click Here) President off the United Mine Workers (UMWA) and founding president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
Peter McGuire
(Click Here) The “father” of Labor Day and of May Day – championed the need for a national federation.
George Meany
(1894-1980)
“The basic goal of labor will not change. It is — as it has always been, and I am sure always will be — to better the standards of life for all who work for wages and to seek decency and justice and dignity for all Americans.”
-George Meany…
Phillip Murray
(Click Here) CIO president who helped transform the industrial union movement into a stable powerful organization.
Kate Mullaney
Click here to read about Kate Mullaney
Click here to visit Kate Mullany National Historic Site Website.
Albert Parsons
Click here to read about Albert Parsons.
Frances Perkins
(Click Here) Served Secretary of Labor and held the distinction of being the first women to serve in a presidential cabinet position.
Esther Eggersten Peterson
(Click Here) Eloquent and effective advocate for the rights of workers, women and consumers.
A. Philip Randolph
“The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor.”
A. Philip Randolph
Walter Reuther
(Click Here) Long-time president of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) considered the model of a reform-minded, liberal trade unionist.
Bayard Rustin
(Click here) Brilliant theorist, tactician and organizer and the first head of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute.
Albert Shanker
Click here to read about Albert Shanker.
Linda Chavez-Thompson
Lubbock, Texas
Linda Chavez-Thompson became the highest-ranking woman in the labor movement when she was first elected to the new position of AFL-CIO executive vice president at the federation’s 1995 convention. Born in Lubbock, Texas, on Aug. 3, 1944, Chavez-Thompson was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council in 1993… Continue reading
The History of Labor Day
Click this link to learn about The History of Labor Day.
Posted in Events, Union Histories
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Labor Arts
Click here to visit a virtual museum designed to gather, identify and display examples of the cultural and artistic history of working people.
Black Labor History
Negro History Week was celebrated for the first time in 1926 during the second week in February. This month was chosen because Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln celebrate their birthdays during the month. In 1976 Negro History Week became Black History Month and the rich history of African Americans began to receive special attention during the entire month of February… Continue reading
Posted in Black Labor History, Literature
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Labor Photos
A comprehensive list of links to labor-related photos… Continue reading
Posted in Child Labor, Labor Photos, Labor Photos, Posters
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Labor Quotes
The use of quotations can be an effective way to engage students in analyzing different points of view. For example, teachers can provide students with the first two quotations below and ask them to explain the point each person is making and state which, in their opinion, they most agree with and provide evidence for their answer… Continue reading
Courses on Labor History and Related Topics
The American Labor Studies Center receives numerous inquires from teachers who are interested in
locating a complete course of study on the topic of labor history. Often they hope to have their
school district adopt a version of the course as an elective offering or, at the very least, they
plan to select certain topics for inclusion in a specific course they are already responsible for
teaching…
Posted in Labor History, Organizing, Post-secondary, Secondary
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Documenting Labor Inside and Out
Documenting Labor Inside and Out uses the Archives of Public Affairs and Policy, located at the University at Albany New York, to document the lives of working people with material on worker’s culture and social welfare organizations. The digital exhibit, created by Cynthia K. Sauer and Brian Keough, makes many primary resources available while adding instructional elements such as: Who Uses Labor Records? and Labor Culture.
Our Documents
Our Documents is a national initiative on American History, Civics, and Service. It is intended to promote public understanding of how rights and responsibilities have taken shape over time. The National Archives and Records Administration is largely responsible for the project. Click here to learn more.
Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
“Using Primary Sources in the Classroom” is a lesson plan developed by the Library of Congress. The lesson’s many suggestions concerning the use of primary resources were developed by Library staff and educators from across the country. The Lessons page, located on this website, contains many examples of labor oriented lessons that focus on the use of primary resources in the classroom.
Posted in Documents, Elementary, Intermediate, Post-secondary, Secondary
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General Information from the ILO on Child Labor
General Information from the ILO on Child Labor
Cyber School Bus 3Plus-U – An instructional program developed by the ILO to teach about child labor.
Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor
Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor – This “Teaching with Documents Lesson Plan” was developed by the staff at the National Archives & Records Administration. The well developed lesson plan contains a correlation to the National History Standards and the National Standards for Civics and Government. Once at the NARA web site you’ll find many other interesting lessons. (Hine’s Photos @ “The History Place”)
Free The Children – Children Helping Children
Free The Children – Children Helping Children -
Free the Children is an international network of children helping children at a local, national and international level through representation, leadership and action. It was founded by Craig Kielburger in 1995, when he was 12 years old.
AFT Child Labor Project
AFT Child Labor Project –
For millions of children around the world, school is a luxury. Around the world, more than 200 million children work in unspeakable conditions in sweatshops, mines and factories. Instead of their ABC’s, these children are learning to weave carpets, haul bricks, sew garments, and manufacture toys they will never enjoy. The best way to stop child labor? Provide all children with free, accessible education. That’s the goal of the Child Labor Project, sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers.
Employee Free Choice Act & Labor Law History
The Employee Free Choice Act, supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would enable working people to bargain for better benefits, wages and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union…